“I never liked keys. Recently, I bought a new house, and after the first month of owning it, I accidentally locked myself out. I learned a valuable lesson when I was trapped outside and had to wait in the freezing winter weather, so I bought a smart lock and now I use SmartThings to automatically lock my door when I leave and unlock it when I arrive. It’s so convenient not having to worry about my doors when I leave.

Here is a short list of other things that I currently do with SmartThings:

• I use a SmartSense Presence sensor to monitor when family members come and go. I also use it to lock and unlock doors, to turn on and off lights, to turn the alarm on when I leave and off when I arrive, to adjust the thermostat, to change modes, and to get notifications.

• I use my smart thermostat to change temperature from anywhere, and together with the modes that I’ve set up using SmartThings, I am able to save energy at night by having SmartThings turn down my thermostat automatically, and then turn it up a few minutes before I wake up.

• I recently integrated my Sonos with SmartThings and now I get greeted in the morning with the weather forecast for the day and music from my favorite radio station instead. This is much more pleasant than waking up to my phone’s blaring alarm.

• I was thinking about getting a self-monitoring alarm system for my home, then I realized that I already have SmartSense Motion sensors in almost every room in my house. Those coupled with my SmartSense Multi sensors offer everything I need for comprehensive home security system, so I did the smart thing and bought a FortrezZ Siren Strobe Alarm which works great with SmartThings. (Editor’s note: This use case is pure gold and is guaranteed to save you lots of green. To secure your home for a fraction of the cost of a traditional home security system, check out our brand-new Home Security Kits.)

• I created a mode which is activated when I go to sleep. It locks my doors, turns off my lights, turns down my thermostats, turns on my alarm to monitor my SmartSense Motion sensors and my SmartSense Multi sensors, turns off my SmartPower Outlets, and plays a custom greeting on Sonos. And if my Sonos was playing music previously, it would pause it automatically.

I must say thank you to everyone at SmartThings who has spent so much time and effort in order to make our lives easier.” – Nickey, Mechanicville, NY